Monday, March 31, 2014

Well, that was NOT the best season, but there were about six weeks in there that were more or less skiable. I managed to eek out a few more days here and there, and even groomed that one storm in February that allowed for a bonus four extra days of skiing, the first two of which were actually pretty good.

The worst thing was all of the tree downfall. It was a total mess and almost impossible to keep up with. Even as we speak, there is another (live) fir tree down on the front hill that just fell this past week. Ugh.

Spring is here (and pretty much has been since late January), and that means the spring cleanup of the trails. But, since the season died off early, some of us have had a chance to get out and get a lot of the work done already; about four weeks ahead of schedule!

I got up and took down a few rolls after Dina, Tarik, Mila, Aida and Quanah had already taken several down. This is on Saturday, March 22.

Still some good snow on Pajarito. I did attempt a circumnavigation of the mountain, some of which was very good, and some that was bad. It really could have been open much more than it was this year. I did get in some good skiing on the west side.

This past Saturday, March 29. Not a lot changed on Pajarito Mountain. Still some good skiing on the west side.

This time, the work party consisted of Sanna, Lynn, Dina, Mila, Quanah, and me. We got a lot done.

Quanah's and Mila's work ethics are questionable.

Here, Quanah is complaining and mumbling something about Union Rules...?

So, now there are a lot of rolls all waiting to be put away, and a few more needing to be taken down. We need to get a few more hands out one day to get the rest done. This coming Saturday, April 5th, we'll have one last Spring Cleanup work day. Please try to make it out. I'll post a notice on the email lists as well.

Paul Graham will be heading up the work. Here is his email notice to everyone:

We are at the end of another winter of fun and frolic (what you say I don't remember any snow on the trails) .. but yes we have to acknowledge that we gave it our best when we erected the fence in November but now as per our agreement it must be brought down and stored until next winter (fingers crossed that it is a massive snow year for a change).

Please try to help with this mighty effort Saturday (April 5th) .. So far one person has volunteered and we are planning to meet at 9:00 AM.

I cannot underscore enough how much easier and faster this will go with as many hands helping out as possible. Simply an hour of your time will mean so much to putting this project behind us. (Otherwise it involves extended work efforts for one or two persons over several weekends when there is little help) .. bring a cutting tool if possible to help with cutting the pesky zip ties we use for attaching the fencing (or, there is plenty of work to help with rolling up fencing as well).

Lots of USFS trail projects going on this year. Lynn has a crew poised to do a rebuild of the lower part of the Guaje Ridge Trail, plus all of their other volunteer trail work projects.

At some point, I, along with any willing volunteers from our club will likely be heading out to the Canada Bonita to start clearing all of the HUGE trees that have fallen between our trail system, and Pipeline Rd. Lots and lots of big trees are down, so it'll take a lot of work. The Jemez Mtn. Trail Run uses this trail system, and have been big supporters of our club, so I figured it is most logical that we take care of this mess if possible. I'll try to coordinate some equipment, etc.